Too much fat might mean too many calories, and thus might get in the way of weight loss. Someone mentioned this recently, and I agree: While many obese people can experience rapid weight loss following a low-carb/PB diet and ample daily calories, there comes a point when merely leaving out carbs does not lead to weight loss unless calorie intake is lowered. I think that I've reached that point, and I'll now try to focus on intermittent fasting. The idea is to give your body just the amount of calories it needs (not too few, not too many) and to get it to burn its own fat reserves during the fasts.

To me it is obviously clear that the body doesn't waste energy. If you consume more than enough dietary fat, there is little reason for those fatty acids to leave your fat cells. So while high carb loads may prevent fat to leave the cells even though there is no dietary fat, reducing carbs may at this point only work in conjunction with reduced dietary fat to get the cells to release the fat (low insulin + low concentration of fatty acids in the blood). And since we all know that a low-fat diet is not a good idea at all, intermittent fasting comes in extremely handy.

So: If you experience a weight loss plateau ... keep track of your caloric intake for a couple of days. If it seems too high (there are calculators for your resting metabolic rate + exercise activity) then try to switch between periods during which you eat just as much (or slightly more) than you need, and periods - not longer than 24 hours - during which you practically eat nothing. Well, as a slight variation, and if you also want to build lean body mass during the process, you can try having some low-caloric protein shakes during the fasts - but you'll need to do some experimenting to see if they negatively affect the fasts.

I agree with you 100% - you said it perfectly dude.

I am trying to gain weight - muscle so I am getting as much protein as possible and eating 50-60% of my calories from fat. Carbs make up the rest, usually 15-20% maybe? I am guessing since I haven't kept track in 5-6 weeks. You just need to eat the right foods. Make sure you eat fish and/or take a fish oil supplement.

Trying to gain lean body mass? Make sure that you eat enough protein each day, and maintain proper metabolism by eating adequate calories at least every other day. And make the feeding phases coincide with your heavy lifting. If you want to indulge in extra carbs, in the hours before (less) and in the hours after (more) your exercise is the ideal time.

Trying to lose fat? Make sure that you don't eat too much in the long run - your average daily caloric intake should loosely match your estimated caloric expenditure. However, you can cheat by introducing alternating phases of fasting and feeding. Try to maintain or slightly exceed your calculated caloric intake during feeding, and on average you will have a nice caloric deficit without the problem of reduced metabolic rate that usually occurs on starvation diets.

All this is great information - thanks, everyone. My numbers for today look much better:

Cal: 1870
Fat: 133.3g (64%)
Carbs: 96.3g (20%)
Protein:84.3g (18%)

I'm going to try some IF this weekend, so that if I bonk I'm not having to push through a workday. Thoughts about that? Maybe that's another thread...in the past I have had to be very religious about meals because I would get hypoglycemic, but since going Primal I've been able to skip breakfast (except for coffee) some mornings and be okay until lunchtime. What's a good next step IF-wise?